During the interview, Bassem Yousef points out that even before these Hamas attacks for years the Israeli military has been killing Palestinians including a massive number of children in the West Bank, a place that Hamas doesn’t control or operate in. It is disgusting what the world has let Israel get away with using Palestinian humans for target practice for seeming sport. Hugs
Egyptian comedian Bassem Youssef speaks out against Israel’s war in Gaza, calling out Ron DeSantis and Ben Shapiro as prominent pro-Israel opinionators during an appearance with Piers Morgan:
BASSEM YOUSSEF: I want to understand what is the logic of Israel carpet bombing Gaza. I mean, if there is a logic, if it is a good, if this will make Israle safe, I want to hear the logic. So if they continue bombing, what are they hoping to achieve?
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So if I can understand this correctly, Israel is doing this to pressure the Palestinian community in Gaza to turn against Hamas. If that right?
That’s part of it. This is exactly what terrorist organizations do, because terrorist organizations will have no chance of beating a whole nation in battle, so they terrorize and kill the civilians in order to spread fear and terror so they can turn against their government to change their policy or resign. You have just compared Israel with Isis.
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I would say I really applaud Israel for doing one thing that no military force in the world does. Because I heard Ben Shapiro, and I heard Ron DeSantis, and they said Israel is the only military force in the world that warns civilians before bombing them. I mean, how fucking cute! That is so nice of them.
Because with this logic, if Russian troops started warning Ukrainians before bombing their houses, we’re cool with Putin, right? Habibi, you have warned them, go invade. It’s fine, you’ve done your job.
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The Israeli Defense Minister said those are human animals. And the thing is Ben Shapiro should know better, because long before the Holocaust, before Jews were thrown in the gas chambers, the Nazi propaganda called them rats. As a human being, I would never accept another human being being thrown into a gas chamber. But a rat? Kill ten, kill 1,000, 3,500, they’re a son of a bitch. They are human animals who live in open sewage and decapitate babies. And because of that propaganda, that guy in Illinois… killed stabbing the six-year-old Palestinian kid… and they used to be friends… It took you 80 years to change one word, from “Jewish” to “Muslim.” And then you transferred your guilt to us.
This is the problem, Israel always victimizes itself. And I have never seen a victim putting their oppressors under siege and bombing them 24/7. Israel wants you to believe they are the victims.
Dealing with Israel is so difficult. It’s like being in a relationship with a narcissistic psychopath, he fucks you up and then he makes you think it’s your fault. You look at Israel as Superman, but they’re really Homelander. They are shooting fish in a barrel and they’re annoyed by the splashes.
The mifepristone (abortion medication) legal case continues to be asinine propaganda bullsh*t. It was propaganda nonsense when it was originally filed and it still is, because in what world should a bunch of non-medical experts be allowed to review the safety of a medication that’s been proven TIME AND TIME AGAIN to be EXTREMELY SAFE?! Safer than literal Tylenol. It makes me so angry and the only way to vent that anger is to tell you all about it, so here it is: an update on the mifepristone lawsuit.
How greatly the republicans in that state must hate brown people. If given half a chance, they would gleefully restart slavery. I don’t see how this is even legal. Think of where this money could be spent to help the people. Hugs
Texas is adding to its border wall to deter migrants from entering the state by constructing a barrier between itself and New Mexico.
“Texas installs fencing along NEW Mexico border. Our barriers around El Paso forced the migrants crossing illegally to enter into New Mexico. They then entered into El Paso from there. To end that, we are building a barrier on the New Mexico border,” Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Construction of a wall along the Texas-Mexico border has been in the works for months since Abbott committed to the project in 2021. He has continually posted videos and images of the border wall on X, but last week’s announcement revealing the construction of a wall between Texas and the neighboring state of New Mexico marks the latest step in his Operation Lone Star.
KFOX14 reported earlier this month that members of the Texas National Guard reinforced the wall between New Mexico and Texas with concertina wire — a type of barbed wire that already lines the Texas-Mexico border. Abbott said Texas had plans to build a barrier between the two states during an appearance at the Manhattan Institute last month.
“Earlier this month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced the placement of razor wire fencing along the Texas-New Mexico border north of the Rio Grande near Sunland Park, NM. This is the latest Operation Lone Star stunt funded by the working Texas family’s tax-dollar that will result in environmental damage, community division and injuries of vulnerable migrants,” the statement read.
“It’s clear that Governor Abbott has no plans on actually addressing our broken immigration system head on — but instead adding more fuel to Operation Lone Star’s dumpster fire,” the statement added.
I swear it was in the comments section of this blog that someone nearly had immigration called on him/her because s/he told a fellow American that s/he came from New Mexico and didn’t go through customs. It was a whole “facepalming” nightmare.
I remember a story decades ago about a man who had a huge hassle from the IRS because he wasn’t paying the right taxes. He lived in NM and they insisted he report his “out of the country” income.
I read that there is a surprising percentage of Texans that think New Mexico is part of Mexico. And an even higher percentage of non-Texans that think that. I’m not surprised on either count.
“As the Senate passed its voucher bill, Senate Bill 1, by a vote of 18-13 last night, Governor Greg Abbott gave a progress report on work with state House members to the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a right-wing think tank whose board members include billionaires Tim Dunn, Doug Deason, Stacy Hock, state Senator Mayes Middleton, and James Leninger—all who have been bankrolling the push to privatize public education in Texas.
That would explain a lot. Let the wealthy pay for their kids’ education, and leave the workforce deprived and dumb. They’re easier for the wealthy to control, that way.
We get many Texans moving to New Mexico where our laws and politics are more liberal/progressive. We call them refugees. Perhaps the new wall is to PREVENT TEXANS from leaving.
There are comments at the link above. I am sorry but I am too heart sick over the cruelty and inhumanity of one group of people to another. Jerry / Rawgod has been posting of the atrocities of the governments / religious groups that stole kids from their parents and abused them horribly to civilize them, He reported on the beating death of a black man whose family still fights for justice, on The Majority Report they just played a clip of Matt Walsh saying the colonization and killing of native populations was a good thing that white people should celebrate because they made everything better … for the white people, I have memories in my head of people who took enjoyment in hearing me cry both in sadness and crying out in pain. I can’t any more today. I am sorry I can’t. Religious people demanding the death and wiping from society of people like me, removing the protections for gay / lesbian / trans kids to return to a time when their lives in school were hell and fear. WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH HUMANS! Maybe it is time that humans move aside on the planet! We don’t deserve to be here. Hugs
They did this with Biden on the way! They are not using restraint and they don’t plan to. This is a war crime, just as when Russia did it. This has become a genocide! And if the US and Biden agree and sign on to this in any way, the stain is on the US also. Angry angry hugs. Scottie
Palestinians evacuate wounded from a building destroyed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah refugee camp in Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)
BY NAJIB JOBAIN, SAMYA KULLAB, RAVI NESSMAN AND MATTHEW LEE
Updated 2:15 PM EDT, October 17, 2023
KHAN YOUNIS, Gaza Strip (AP) — The Health Ministry run by Hamas said an Israeli airstrike on Tuesday hit a Gaza City hospital packed with wounded and other Palestinians seeking shelter, killing hundreds. If confirmed, the attack would be by far the deadliest Israeli airstrike in five wars fought since 2008.
The health ministry, which is run by Hamas, said at least 500 people had been killed. Photos purportedly from al-Ahli Hospital shared widely on social video showed fire engulfing the building, widespread damage and bodies scattered in the wreckage. The photos could not be independently verified.
Several hospitals in Gaza City have become refuges for hundreds of people, hoping they would be spared bombardment after Israel ordered all residents of the city and surrounding areas to evacuate to the southern Gaza Strip.
Hamas, which sparked the latest war with an attack last week that killed more than 1,400 Israelis, called Tuesday’s hospital strike “a horrific massacre.” It said in a statement that most of the casualties were displaced families, patients, children and women.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said there were still no details on the hospital deaths: “We will get the details and update the public. I don’t know to say whether it was an Israeli air strike.”
In the south, Israeli airstrikes killed dozens of civilians and at least one senior Hamas figure Tuesday as U.S. officials worked to convince Israel to allow delivery of supplies to desperate civilians, aid groups and hospitals after days of failed hopes for an opening in the siege.
With Israel barring entry of water, fuel and food into Gaza since Hamas’ brutal attack last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken secured an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss creation of a mechanism for delivering aid to the territory’s 2.3 million people. U.S. officials said the gain might appear modest, but stressed that it was a significant step forward.
Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Still, as of late Tuesday, there was no deal in place. A top Israeli official said Tuesday his country was demanding guarantees that Hamas militants would not seize any aid deliveries. Tzahi Hanegbi, head of Israel’s National Security Council, suggested entry of aid also depended on the return of hostages held by Hamas.
“The return of the hostages, which is sacred in our eyes, is a key component in any humanitarian efforts,” he told reporters, without elaborating whether Israel was demanding the release of all of the roughly 200 people Hamas abducted before allowing supplies in.
U.S. President Joe Biden prepared to head to the region as he and other world leaders tried to prevent the war from sparking a broader regional conflict. Violence flared Tuesday along Israel’s border with Lebanon, where Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants operate.
With tens of thousands of troops massed along the border, Israel has been expected to launch a ground invasion into Gaza — but plans remained uncertain.
Palestinians flee Israeli bombardment of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)
Palestinians look for survivors in buildings destroyed by Israeli airstrikes in Deir el-Balah, southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Hassan Eslaiah)
“We are preparing for the next stages of war,” military spokesman Lt. Col. Richard Hecht said. “We haven’t said what they will be. Everybody’s talking about a ground offensive. It might be something different.”
In Gaza, dozens of injured were rushed to hospitals after heavy attacks outside the southern cities of Rafah and Khan Younis, residents reported. Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official and former health minister, reported 27 people were killed in Rafah and 30 in Khan Younis.
An Associated Press reporter saw around 50 bodies brought to Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. Family members came to claim the bodies, wrapped in white bedsheets, some soaked in blood.
An airstrike in Deir al Balah reduced a house to rubble, killing a man and 11 women and children inside and in a neighboring house, some of whom had evacuated from Gaza City. Witnesses said there was no warning before the strike.
Shelling from Israeli tanks hit a U.N. school in central Gaza where 4,000 Palestinians had taken refuge, killing six people and wounding dozens, the United Nations Palestinian refugee agencysaid. At least 24 U.N. installations have been hit the past week, killing at least 14 of the agency’s staff.
Israeli soldiers gather in a staging area near the border with Gaza Strip, in southern Israel Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Mourners gather around the five coffins of the Kotz family during their funeral in Gan Yavne, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
The Israeli military said it was targeting Hamas hideouts, infrastructure and command centers.
A barrage of strikes crashed into the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza, leveling an entire block of homes and causing dozens of casualties among families inside, residents said. Among those killed was one of Hamas’ top military commanders, Ayman Nofal, the group’s military wing said — the most high-profile militant known to have been killed so far in the war.
Nofal, formerly the intelligence chief of Hamas’ armed wing, was in charge of Hamas militant activities in the central Gaza Strip, including coordinating activities with other militant groups.
Netanyahu sought to put the blame on Hamas for Israel’s retaliatory attacks and the rising civilian casualties in Gaza. “Not only is it targeting and murdering civilians with unprecedented savagery, it’s hiding behind civilians,” he said.
In Gaza City, Israeli airstrikes also hit the house of Hamas’ top political official, Ismail Haniyeh, killing at least 14 people. Haniyeh is based in Doha, Qatar, but his family lives in Gaza City. The Hamas media office did not immediately identify those killed.
Israel sealed off Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel that killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and resulted in some 200 taken captive into Gaza. Hamas militants in Gaza have launched rockets every day since, aiming at cities across Israel.
Israeli strikes on Gaza have killed at least 2,778 people and wounded 9,700, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Nearly two-thirds of those killed were children, a ministry official said.
Aid workers warned that the territory was near complete collapse. Hospitals were on the verge of losing electricity, threatening the lives of thousands of patients, and hundreds of thousands of people searched for bread and water.
The U.N. agency for Palestinians said more than 400,000 displaced people are crowded into schools and other facilities in the south. The agency said it has only 1 liter of water a day for each of its staff members trapped in the territory.
Israel opened a water line into the south for three hours that benefitted only 14 percent of Gaza’s population, the U.N. said.
At the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only connection to Egypt, truckloads of aid were waiting to enter. The World Food Program said that it had more than 300 tons of food waiting to cross into Gaza.
Civilians with foreign citizenship — many of them Palestinians with dual nationalities — also waited in Rafah, desperate to get out.
“We come to the border crossing hoping that it will open, but so far there is no information,” said Jameel Abdullah, a Swedish citizen.
Repeated reports that an opening was imminent have proven false as negotiations continued to grind on, including the U.S., Israel and Egypt.
A senior Egyptian official called it a “very tough, complicated back-and-forth process” and said talks were over deliveries through Rafah and Israel’s Karam Shalom crossing to Gaza. He said Israel was insisting to search all aid, and wants to “ensure that such aid won’t benefit Hamas.” He said Egypt proposed that the U.N. oversee the whole process, including inside Gaza. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to brief the press on the talks.
Officials for Hamas and Israel cast doubt on an immediate opening, saying they were unaware of an agreement.
Blinken arrived in Israel last Thursday with a full-throated message of unequivocal U.S. support for Israel in its campaign to destroy Hamas. But in meetings with seven Arab leaders over the next three days, Blinken’s tone shifted subtly, talking more prominently about the need for humanitarian aid.
U.S. officials said it had become clear by then that already limited Arab tolerance of Israel’s military operations would evaporate entirely if conditions in Gaza worsened. They said that outright condemnation of Israel by Arab leaders would be a boon to Hamas and could encourage Iran, according to four officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration thinking. That prompted Blinken to press Netanyahu on an aid deal.
Biden’s visit to Israel Wednesday will signal the White House’s support for a key ally. He will also travel to Jordan to meet with Arab leaders amid fears the fighting could spread in the region.
Israel evacuated towns near its northern border with Lebanon, where the military has exchanged fire repeatedly with Hezbollah militants.
Israel said it killed four militants wearing explosive vests who were attempting to cross into the country from Lebanon on Tuesday morning. No group immediately claimed responsibility.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Israel’s continuing offensive in Gaza could cause a violent reaction across the region.
“Bombardments should be immediately stopped. Muslim nations are angry,” Khamenei said, according to state media.
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Kullab reported from Baghdad. Nessman reported from Jerusalem. Lee reported from Amman. Associated Press journalists Amy Teibel in Jerusalem; Abby Sewell in Beirut; Samy Magdy and Jack Jeffrey in Cairo; and Ashraf Sweilam in el-Arish, Egypt contributed to this report.
Nessman is director of global text for The Associated Press. He has covered major news stories in the United States, Africa, the Middle East and South Asia.
This is one of the more honest videos done on the subject. It shows just how much control Israel has over Gaza and the horrible living conditions Israel has forced the people there to live in. It details with facts the dates that Israeli militants took over the deported over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands so they could steal the land for Israel. Then the video report shows how Israeli settlements have grown in the West Bank, and some are so large they are the size of major cities. This mistreatment is the catalyst for the rage that keeps erupting as a desperate people with no hope, no home state, see everything taken from them as they are abused. Killing of civilians is wrong, but it is just as wrong on both sides. To answer the question of where was the Israeli army, guarding illegal settlements and the settlers who attack and harass Palestinians, destroying their homes, corps, and yes even killing them in an attempt to drive them out. Why because one god says the land is Jewish, another god says the land is Muslim, and no gods are real. Hugs
For decades, Israel has prioritized illegal settlements for Jewish Israelis in the West Bank
In the early hours of Saturday, October 7, Israelis living near the border with Gaza awoke to the sounds of Hamas fighters killing and kidnapping their neighbors. As the hours stretched on and they hid, terrified, their frantic text messages contained versions of this question: Where is the army?
To answer that question, we need to travel to the West Bank.
Watch this video to better understand how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s obsessive focus on the West Bank has left Israelis everywhere vulnerable.
This is important to understand what the goal of the right is. The goal is to destroy public education, and instead force public taxpayer funds, the public treasury, to be diverted to private businesses and religious institutions. They want to give religious organizations, church affiliated schools that discriminate against LGBTQIA tax dollars of people they discriminate against, so they can indoctrinate public schools kids with their churches doctrines. Here are some quotes. There is more in the article at the link above. Hugs. Scottie
That means it will be difficult to discern whether the spike in EdChoice scholarships came from parents looking to leave public school or those whose children already attend (private schools).” One serious problem here is that the voucher expansion is to be paid for out of the school foundation budget that also pays for the state’s public schools.
In Iowa, 40 percent of more than 17,000 applicants to the state’s new universal education savings account program have left public schools, while the remaining 60 percent were not enrolled in public schools before applying…. The gap is even wider in Florida, where 69 percent of roughly 122,000 new applicants… were already in private schools before applying…. Another 18 percent are children entering the K-12 system for the first time as kindergarteners….”
“Northeast Ohio Catholics have been thrust into the national debate about LGBTQ rights after the diocese released its policy…. for churches and 79 elementary schools and five high schools. It includes bans on students and staff from undergoing gender-affirming care; their use of new pronouns or first names; and the use of restrooms or other facilities different than their ‘God-given biological sex.’ Church and school staff must notify parents if their child may be transgender. Students and staff cannot display LGBTQ pride flags or other symbols. Students cannot attend dances or mixers with a date of the same sex.” Most of these Cleveland Catholic diocesan schools accept EdChoice Expansion vouchers from the state of Ohio.
But the larger injustice exposed here is even more distressing. More and more students under the state’s new universal school voucher expansion will be using public tax dollars to pay tuition at Catholic schools in greater Cleveland which are now—seemingly with impunity—explicitly discriminating against a specific class of students whose rights are protected under Title IX of the Constitution of the United States.
Scottie's Playtime 